Apple preps new Mac chips that would top Intel’s fastest, report says

Apple is working on new Mac processors that would top the performance of even Intel’s best chips, Bloomberg reports. 

Apple’s new processors could arrive as soon as next year, according to the report published Monday. Apple is said to be testing chips that have as many as “32 high-performance cores” with higher-end desktops expected “later in 2021” and a new Mac Pro that is half the size of the current one planned “by 2022.” 

Apple is also reportedly working on improved graphics processors for laptops that would top its own M1 chip which debuted last month with the new MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro and Mac Mini. Whereas the M1 has either seven or eight cores, Bloomberg notes that Apple is working on new chips for higher-end laptops and desktops that would have “16-core and 32-core graphics parts.” The company is also working on “pricier graphics upgrades with 64 and 128 dedicated cores aimed at its highest-end machines” for “later in 2021 or potentially 2022.” 

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The next Mac updates could come “as early as the spring” of 2021 or “later in the fall,” with Bloomberg noting that the MacBook Pro, entry-level and high-end versions of the iMac and a new Mac Pro are in the works. For the next-gen MacBook Pro and iMacs, Bloomberg says that Apple is working on processors that have “as many as 16 power cores and four efficiency cores,” though it cautions that the final number could be scaled back “depending on production” and if issues emerge “during fabrication.” 

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

At its annual WWDC event in June, where the transition from Intel chips to its own silicon was announced, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the switch will “take about two years,” promising that Apple would continue to support Intel-based Macs for “years to come.”